Improved box



J.4 w. eoFF.

Axle Box.

Patented Feb. 2, 1869.

No. 8&3'90.

air/OW i @initrd 5mm @met ffm.'

JOSEPH W. GOEE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

Letters Patent No. 86,390, dated Februa/ry 2, 1869.

MPROVE BOX FOR LOCOMOTIVE DRIVING-ALES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the lame.

To all whom 'it may concern:

`struction of journal-boxes for the drivin g-axles ot' locomotives, whereby it is designed to'provide an arrangement that will be less liable to wear and become slack in the sides, and admit of more readily taking up the slack occasioned on the sides ofthe boxes,`by the pounding thereon of the axle under the action of the crank,

and also admit of effecting the said adjustment, or the removal ofthe box entirely from the axle and the housings, with greater facility than can be done with those as at present constructed. .t

The accompanying drawings represent a sectional elevatiouof my improved journal-box, and a portion of the frame of a locomotive.

A A and B represent the two side and top portions of my improved journal-box, which I construct of three pieces, and provide each with its corresponding brass bearings, C O and D. llhe upper ends of the side-pieces A ofthe box are provided with recesses a, and the top, B, is provided with corresponding projections, arranged to bear in the said recesses, for the purpose of maintaining the parts f' in their proper relative positions, the upper part B being made narrower than the diam-eter of the journal E, and the said pieces being provided with concavities l1, of suiilicient depth to embrace so much of the semicircle of the journal above the horizontal line of the axis as is not embraced by the upper bearing D, and also a corresponding portion of the journal below the said horizontal line. This arrangement admits ot'a greater bearing-surface against the sides of the journal, to oppose the pounding action of the cranks, than can be done where all the three sides A A and B of the boxes are made in one piece, as is now the common practice, for, when they are made of one piece, in order to slip them on over the journal in a lateral direction, as is necessary on account of the collar at the end, they can only be made to bear on half the surface of the journal.

Asa consequence of the slight amount of bearingsurface on the sides ofthe axles, to oppose the pounding action of the cranks, and especially as there is none below the horizontal line of the axis of the journal, the said pounding action has a tendency to throw the-box slightly upward against the springs which sup ort the load, thereby throwing the curved portion of t e bearing, from the said horizontal line to the top of the bearing, slightly o" the'journal, and consequently delivering the blow upon the vertical part, below the horizontal line, where the resisting surface is very slight; hence these parts must soon. yield to the said pounding action, and the boxes become slack, and when so slackened, it is difficult to repair them,- and they are replaced by new ones, and, in order to remove them, the framing of the engine must be raised sufficiently to allow the boxes,

while on the axle, to fall belowv the housings E, the bar. H being removed; Whereas, according to my improved arrangement, the side bearings O, embracing a cosiderable portion of the surface of the journal below the said horizontal line, it is impossible for the boxes to rise under the pounding action of the cranks, and

the blow is taken by the wholebearing-surface of the said side bearings or brasses C. Moreover, when they,

do become worn, they can be readily adjusted and tightened by packing between the back part of the brasses and the faces of the recesses in the parts A in wh ich the brasses are tted.

The parts A of the boxes may also be adjusted, to compensate for looseness in the bearings, by the Wedges G, interposed between the parts A and the housings F,

which also serve to prevent any slack between the boxes and the housings. I do not, however, lay any claim to these wedges, as they are also employed in connection with the boxes, as now Acommonly constructed.

-Vihen it `is desired to remove my improved boxes from the axles, the same may be accomplished withoutv raising the framing, a in the case of those now in use, be first removing the bar H and Wedges G, when the parts A maybe ltaken out, and, lastly, the upper part B may be removed by raising the weight of the load slightly oii' it, which it supports through the medium of the bridge I, on the top of which the springs of the locomotive are secured, and conversely, the boxes may be applied without diculty.

K represents the oil or sponge-box, which may be applied to my improved boxes, and secured by the pins a, similarly to the application ofthe same to the boxes of common construction.

Having thus described my invention,

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Pat l ent- J ournal-boxes for the driving-axles of, locomotives, composed of' the separable sides A A and top B, and so arranged that the saidsides will present materialA portions of their bearing-surfaces to the journal above and below the horizontal line of the axis ofthe same, substantially as and for the purpose specied.

The above specification of my invention signed by me, this 19th day of November, 1868.

JOSEPH W. GOFF.

Witnesses: l

FRANK BLocKLEY, ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

